Ted MacTaggart's overbearing father is still trying to control his life, even from the grave. His will insists that, in order to inherit the family company, MAC Superior, Ted must be married by his twenty-fifth birthday -- and the marriage has to be "real." As in the board of MAC has to sign off on it.<br><br>Ted could fight the will, but then the handsome, artistic Ryan Costa, an old friend from school days walks back into his life, offering to be his groom-of-convenience. Ted draws up the contracts and Ryan, who has family medical bill problems, agrees gladly to the terms. Ted, emotionally walled off and afraid of his attraction to Ryan, also suggests they should keep their relationship strictly professional. Caring for people has always proven a weakness for him. Now isn't the time to start.<br><br>It's not long before Ryan's charm breaks through Ted's walls, but Ted isn't his own worst enemy in this case. Other forces are vying for MAC Superior, and even when their relationship is becoming the real deal, its shaky foundations land Ryan and Ted in trouble.

Poor Little Rich Boy

Then Ryan said of a sudden, “Your dad was a dick.”


“Yes. Right up to the end.” Ted sighed. “But it’s no excuse for me to be the same. The opposite, if anything. Sadly, Wally missed the memo.”


“He tries. Sometimes,” Ryan ventured, though he looked doubtful.


“He’s a spoiled shit, and I’m sure him gifting us this trip has an ulterior motive of some sort.” Ted rolled his eyes. “He’s amazed that I don’t seem to care. That Race is gone.”


He hadn’t meant for that to pop out, but, well, there it was.


Ted looked to him, searching for irony, but there was none. The sun reflected prettily in Ryan’s bright eyes; his face was statuesque and bronze and sun-dappled and serious. Ted asked, “Do you mean that?”


“Yeah.” Ryan caught his gaze and made a face. “I mean, if you wanted to mourn the father he might’ve been, I’d get it. But you probably never spent time dwelling on shit you couldn’t have from him. Like Wally probably did.”


Chapter 40